The Clergy-Man's Recreation: Shewing the pleasure and profit of the art of gardening

8vo

1714·London

by LAURENCE, John (1668-1732)

London: printed for Bernard Lintott, 1714. 8vo. [14], 83, [1]pp. Engraved additional title. Later cloth-backed marbled paper boards Provenance: John Turton (early signature) Rare first edition of the "first original eighteenth-century English treatise on gardening" (Henrey.) The Reverend John Laurence was rector of Yelvertoft in Northamptonshire from 1700 to 1721, and this series of works is based firmly on his own achievements in reclaimimg the rectory garden "of about 32 Yards square, mounded round with low Mud-Walls, quite over-run with Couch or Twitch-grass, Nettles and Goose-berry Bushes; and, which was a great deal worse, upon a wet white Clay, lying within a Foot of the Surface." The work in essence tells the story of the author's victory over this hostile environment in the form of practical advice on all aspects of the cultivation of fruit trees. First published in 1714, subsequent editions and continuations appeared in the ensuing years. Henrey III:933. (Inventory #: 30969)

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